After being a major focal point of Microsoft's presence at Gamescom 2017, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will, unfortunately, miss its release date of October 19th, 2017 according to a blog post published on the official Age of Empires website. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was set to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary, but will instead invite thousands of more players into its current on-going closed Beta.
A specific reason wasn't given for the delay, and the only hint that points to anything is the developer's desire for "more in-depth testing across [the] single-player campaign, multiplayer balance, fine-tuning the lobby, etc." The developers say their goal with Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is to "modernize the game while preserving the fun, discovery, and magic of that first experience."
No official release date has been given, but they say that the new target timeframe is "early 2018." Until then, the developers say they will continue to gather data based on player feedback and set-up additional multiplayer sessions.
There is also no word on the previously announced Age of Empires 4, but given that the trailer that was released was entirely made from concept art, we don't expect to hear from that game for some time.
